The House of Hades
by athena grl
Summary: The house of hades...after the mark of athena...what am i supposed to say in the summary? This'll definitly have twists. Totally original!
1. Chapter 1

Well...I'm finally doing an H.o.H. fanfic! So...I'm doing this because my best friend wants me to, but I'm also trying to finish Moa, so I don't know how often I'll update this...probably in between each update of moa. So...I hope you enjoy!

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Nico

Nico couldn't believe it – not now, not then, and probably not until they actually got to his dad's house.

I had been two days since Percy and Annabeth had disappeared into Tartarus, and it still seemed like he watching it from a movie screen, not real life.

He still had nightmares every night about being down there – he was a son of Hades and he could hardly keep himself from going insane. Gaea had done the worse things...any good thought of her completely evaporated, and would never return.

After the nightmares were over, he woke up and first expected for his surroundings to be bronze, dimly lit by his sword, and for the air to be...well, gross. When he realized that he wasn't captive, he started getting up, planning on talking to Percy.

When he found out Percy and Annabeth (who he might have the tiniest bit of a crush on) were currently falling through Tartarus, he almost wished that he was trapped in his nightmares again. At least those weren't real.

But this was reality, and he had to face it. He had to stay strong for the sake of everyone else – especially his sister.

Hazel depended on Nico a lot. She didn't like to admit it, but she needed to tell somebody something if it was bothering her. He could see how relieved she was when she first caught sight of him, and she told her own version of everything that had happened. She even hugged him, and she had never done that before. Children of Hades (Pluto, whatever), weren't exactly known for their love.

The others wouldn't admit it, either, but Nico could tell that lots of them were scared of him. He could tell that Jason was definitely more uneasy than before he came to the Greek camp – probably because he found out that Hades' aspect was creepier than Roman. Nico couldn't blame him – he sometimes found himself wanting to get away from his dad when he was Hades – he could only handle so much time in the Underworld.

There was a knock on his door (which Leo had quickly added to the Argo ll), and Hazel walked in.

"Hey Nico," she said, sitting on the bed.

Nico smiled back at her. "Hi," he replied. "You're still worried about Percy and Annabeth," said Nico, saying it more as a statement than a question.

"Yeah," she said, tracing her finger over the skull that was embroidered on his blanket. "Are they really going to make it to the Doors of Death alive?"

He hesitated before answering. "They aren't dead yet, and I know Percy and Annabeth. They can both do impossible things – and when they're together, they're even more powerful. Well, especially since Percy never thinks. Annabeth is pretty much his brain." He tried for a smile, and Hazel weakly smiled back, before getting up and going to the door.

"Well, I'd better get going," she said. "I'll tell Leo to...uh, where is the House of Hades?"

"It's in Greece."

"Okay... I'll tell that to Leo - he's probably forgotten by now."

She smirked before walking out and leaving Nico by himself.

Nico sighed. He didn't want to do this, but he had no choice. He quickly scribbled a note and put it on his bed before gathering up all his courage. He really didn't want to step in the middle of a war, but he had no choice. He had to do it – it might be the only chance they had for stopping it. They certainly didn't have enough time to back to Camp Half-Blood; carrying a 40-foot-tall statue of Athena...the Romans might destroy it without realizing its value. Nico didn't even know if it was possible to do that, but he didn't want to find out.

He took a deep breath, and shimmered into darkness.

When he opened his eyes, he standing back in the Hades cabin, listening to swords clanging and yelling that seemed to be coming from everywhere.

He stumbled a bit and sat down on his bed, resting for a few minutes before standing up again and walking out.

He immediately got a sword put to his throat. He looked at its owner, and to his surprise, found it was Reyna.

"Nico!" she said, clearly in surprise. "What-what are you doing here?"

He pushed the sword from his throat. "I'm going to try to stop this," he grumbled, before marching past her.

"What-but, Nico-there's no way you can-"

"I'm going to try, even if it gets me killed."

He pulled his sword from its sheath and marched in between the two sides, the ground cracking in half and separating them.

"Nico!" said Chiron, appearing out of nowhere and trotting towards him, obviously in relief. "Nico, how are the others? Have they made it safely? Is everyone-"

"Chiron, I'm here to tell everybody something. But first-you need to stop fighting. Now."

Chiron looked a bit surprised, but he hid it quickly. "Of course. Tell us everything. And if you please..." he glanced quickly at the gap that was a few centimeters wide. "Could you possible make it a bit wider?"

He nodded. "Gladly," he responded, and made it a couple meters apart.

"Ambassador of Pluto!" someone shouted from the Roman side, apparently just noticing that Nico had arrived.

"Nico di Angelo? Where?!" shouted voice that (sadly), Nico knew.

"Octavian, what do you want?" sighed Nico, sitting down and swinging his legs over the side of the fissure. It didn't bother him, since it went down straight to the Underworld.

"What do I-What do I want?" sputtered Octavian. "I want you to tell these Greeks to stop! They have no right to fight us! They-"

"Shut up, Octavian," said Nico.

"Nico? You-you know him? You these Romans?" Chiron looked so shocked that Nico almost laughed.

"Yeah, I do," replied Nico, glaring at Octavian. "And, if you will just _shut up_, I'll tell you the story...and maybe after you'll agree not to fight."

Chiron looked unconvinced, but he nodded. "We'll surrender if they do," he said, nodding in the Romans' direction. "We were just...well, we had to use self-defense."

Nico nodded, and then began from a year ago, when he first met Hazel.

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Well, I'm tired, so I hope that wasn't too bad...but I'm sorry if it was! It'll be better next time! Please review!


	2. Chapter 2

Hi! Wow, I can't believe it! I already have 2 followers and a review! Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay! You guys are AMAZING-I never would have thought that that was possible! So, here's a "thank-you" present! Well, I'll stop talking and let you guys read the next chapter...enjoy!

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Nico

When Nico finished his story, both sides were silent for what felt like forever, which, for ADHD demigods, that must've been really hard.

Finally, Reyna spoke up from the front of the Roman side. "So, what you're telling us is that for the past year, ever since you brought Hazel to our camp, you've known that there were Greek demigods?"

"I am a Greek demigod," said Nico, now drumming his fingers on the ground. He was now extra glad that he'd put it there – he suspected that if he were on the side with the Romans, they would've pushed him in, and he couldn't afford wasting his energy on shadow-traveling.

The Greeks stared at him dumbfounded, their eyes open wide, and most of them kept glancing back and forth in between Nico and the Romans, while the other side looked almost the same – just slightly angrier.

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN?" exploded Octavian, "you've cheated on us, and helped the enemy! You've-"

"I've actually been trapped in a bronze jar with no air for over the past week, so I had no idea what was happening," Nico cut him off, and continued. "And if anything, you'd be the enemy of me, since I'm originally Greek. But there's going to be no more fighting here, and we're going to work together. As I said before, the seven demigods are currently split up, and I'm supposed to be with them right now, so if you don't mind, I'd like this ending of war to be quick. I'll go to my cabin, and you can yell at each other all you want, or kill each other, I don't care, but what will that get you? Only more dead people, and from both sides, not just the enemy. Now, put down you're weapons. You have three minutes, and you had better apologize to each other by then."

Nico wished that he had Piper with him, but he thought that he had done a pretty good job – no one, at least, had expected him to treat them as though they were 2-year-olds settling an argument. And anyway, if Piper was here, the Romans wouldn't believe her after the Charmspeak wore off.

He got up and walked to his cabin, then shut the door behind him.

He then put his ear to the door and listened for sounds of war. They never came.

He frowned, and glanced at the clock that hung from the ceiling (it was formed from skeletons super-glued together). It had already been a minute. He flopped down on his bed and absentmindedly created a mouse, and watched it scurry around on his floor.

He flicked his hand and it disassembled itself and sank into the ground.

He looked at the clock again – it had been three minutes, so he went back outside again, glaring at everyone.

"Are we done with this?" he asked, looking from one side to another.

They both nodded, the Romans more reluctantly than the Greeks.

"Good. Now, I want to make sure that you can trust each other. Cabin counsellors and centurions, meet in the Big House – praetor, too. The rest of you, make good and try not to main each other. Chiron, can you come with us?"

He nodded, still looking a bit shocked. I guess it wasn't every day that a child of Hades – an outsider took charge...and made two enemies make peace. Well, it wasn't quite peace yet, but Nico was fairly certain that they could do it eventually.

In the Big House, they once again sat around the ping pong table, with Cheese Whiz and crackers in the middle (provided by the satyrs – Grover included).

"So," said Reyna, once they had all sat down on chairs. "We are here to discuss the fate of Camp Jupiter and Camp Half-Blood."

Everyone nodded.

Chiron had gone into paralyzed man mode, so that he didn't tower over everyone else, and more or less make people feel threatened. "Is everyone here agreeing to restrain ourselves from war and discuss the prophecy?"

Everyone once again nodded in agreement.

"We have both heard it," Octavian stepped in, "so why discuss it? It's a waste of time! We have more important things to talk about, such as-"

"Such as the prophecy," Nico said, cutting Octavian off.

"So...the prophecy...which is...um...you know, I can't remember any more. Could someone possibly mention it?" Of course, it was Travis Stoll from the Hermes cabin.

"How could you have forgotten it?" asked Octavian, seething. "It is the will of the Fates, a window into the future! How could you have possibly _forgotten_ it?"

He jumped to his feet, but Reyna quickly pulled him down. "Octavian," she chided him, "it is simple enough to forget things – especially lines that make no sense to anyone. Besides, most people have better things to do than sit and memorize every prophecy that comes along. I think more than just one of us needs a refreshing of it, just so that we're clear."

"I'll help," Rachel suddenly spoke up from the back. A couple people tried to pull her down, but she shrugged them off and moved until she was standing in front of the table.

"I'm the oracle here, for those of you who don't know me. I'll probably be of better use to you than him," she said, pointing at a now even madder Octavian. Nico had to hide a smile. "So, the Great Prophecy goes like this: _Seven half-Bloods shall answer the call; to storm or fire, the world must fall; an oath to keep with a final breath; and foes bear arms to the doors of death_. We know what the Doors of Death are and where – and we also know who the Seven are. Are there any disagreements?"

There was silence around the table – even Octavian had shut up for once.

"Good," continued Rachel Dare. "Because I have another prophecy for you."

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Well, I hope you like it! Thanks again to the people that have already reviewed/favourite/followed: Perseusslayerofmedusa, splended123456789, and The girl. You guys are amazing! Thank you sooooo much!


	3. Chapter 3

Hey everyone! I'm sorry about not having updated in a while, but it was the holidays, and I got really distracted...happy new year! Well, I have not come up with a prophecy yet, so I will do a chapter with Annabeth! I hope you guys like it, but I'm confused with the whole "bottomless pit" concept, when Arachne said that there will be a "very hard fall". So, I hope you guys will forgive me if it's terrible, so...read on!

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Annabeth

When Annabeth finally woke up, at first she didn't feel anything but the pain that was numbing her leg. She didn't know how long she had been out for, but she hoped not too long. Considering the fact that all the monsters in the universe came here when they died, well...that probably meant that they would have a monster attack about every hour – if not less. One of the things that Annabeth didn't know the answer to was how many monsters – approximately – there were in Tartarus.

And while Annabeth should have felt nothing but despair, she felt full of happiness. She had finally reunited with her Seaweed Brain for good, even if she was in the most evil place in the universe. But that didn't matter – it was a small detail. Well, aside that they had to out-smart Gaea's minions, but that wouldn't be a problem. After all, Annabeth was a daughter of Athena, and she was with Percy.

When she could finally see properly again – the light down in the pit wasn't too great, either: complete darkness with dim light coming from somewhere around them. Hardly enough to see, but eventually Annabeth became accustomed enough to it to make out Percy, who was sitting against the wall, his sword drawn. His face looked pale, and there were dark circles under his eyes. His hair looked terrible, and he was covered in scratches, bleeding in multiple places.

"Percy?" Annabeth asked. Her voice came out hoarse and weak-sounding.

He looked at her immediately and smiled feebly. "Annabeth! You're up."

"Yeah. How long...how long have I been out for?"

"It's hard to say, but maybe two or three days? A lot of monsters have been attacking, so maybe it was only one day...at least 24 hours."

"A whole day? How have you fought so much and not died by now?"

He managed another tired smile. "Well, I am pretty good at fighting with a sword, in case you haven't noticed. Now...mind if I take a break? Wake me up in a couple hours."

With that, he lie down on the dirt floor and instantly fell asleep.

"Alright," Sighed Annabeth while managing to get into a sitting position. "You can sleep. I'll just sit here and talk with the monsters."

She gingerly tested putting pressure on her leg. It hurt about as much as yesterday, but she figured that that was because of the fall. The ambrosia that she had eaten yesterday was still healing it. She was just lucky that she had enough strength to stand.

She sat back down again, carefully resting her foot down, but even that sent pain shooting up her leg. She gasped, and blinked back tears before starting to go through the pile of supplies that Percy had made, hoping to find some kind of thing to use for her leg.

She had lost her Bubble Wrap on the way down, as well as the makeshift splinter.

She sighed in relief as she came upon a canteen of nectar. Unscrewing it, she tilted it back...and there was nothing in it.

Glaring at it, she tossed it back on the ground. Just as she was about to look back to Percy, she noticed that something had fallen out – it must've been stuck to the bottom of the container.

She picked it up and sniffed it, when suddenly the realization hit her.

For some strange reason, somebody had shoved ambrosia squares into a nectar canteen.

She took a bite out of it and sighed contentedly. It reminded her of Camp Half-Blood...of the rare times that they served dessert – like on the Fourth of July, or maybe it tasted a little like that blue cake that she and Percy had shared on his birthday after he saved the world...

Suddenly she shoved the rest of the square in her mouth and stood up, wobbling and almost falling over a lot. She drew her knife and stood there, waiting for battle.

But when a kitten appeared instead of a vicious, blood-thirsty monster, she was more than a bit confused.

"Uh..." she said, then knelt down, keeping her knife in front of herself and pointed at the feline.

"Who – what are you?" she asked it, looking at it from head to toe.

It was the average size of a kitten, and was almost completely gray all over, except for the little patches of white here and there, like on its paws and nose.

"Hello, Annabeth." A voice suddenly called out, startling Annabeth and making her jump. At least she had eaten that ambrosia beforehand. It was a lot less painful to whack her leg on the ground now.

"We've met before, and I can assure you that I am not harmful. At least not to you, anyway."

"Uh...I...you're...wait – you're a talking cat?"

The cat sat down and stared at her. If Annabeth could read animal expressions, she'd even say that it was glaring at her.

"Annabeth, you know who I am. You've read the myths."

Annabeth looked down into the cats eyes. They were a startling shade of silver/yellow. Almost like a moon...suddenly she realized why the cat's voice had sounded so familiar. She had heard it before. Its owner had once saved her life on Mount Tam. She remembered the myths – about how Artemis turned into a cat to escape Typhon, who was about to kill her. Ever since then, she had been quietly referred to as the goddess of cats.

"Lady Artemis?"

The cat purred. "Yes Annabeth. I came here to give you a warning and to guide you. The only reason I was able to come here at all is because I am a cat – cats are stronger than you think."

"But...why have you come here? Why help us?"

Artemis sat straighter. "Because if you fail this part of your quest then the world is doomed to fall. I can guide you a little ways and help you avoid attacks that could slow you down. It is essential that you arrive at the Doors of Death at the same time that the rest of the Seven do. If you do not...well, as I said before, the world could very possibly be destroyed."

Annabeth nodded. She had been expecting this much, and she knew that it was incredibly important to have everything exact.

"Also, I have retrieved some of your belongings to help you through this part of the Underworld." With that, Artemis stood up and walked away from where she had been sitting.

Annabeth gasped. "How did you get these?"

"They ended up pretty close to where you fell."

Annabeth slowly picked the objects up.

One of them was a small, cell-phone-sized object that as soon as she pressed the right button would expand to a laptop. On the front of it was a glowing blue Delta.

She put it in her pocket, and then ever so slowly picked up the other thing. Its familiar presence made her calmer, and, hardly daring to hope she put it on her head and looked at herself.

She was invisible.

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Well, the hat works! Yay! So, hope you enjoyed it and all that, sorry for not updating sooner! And thank you for all of your reviews! You guys are amazing!


	4. Chapter 4

Wow. I am sooooo sorry! I honestly am, and I know I keep saying this, and then not updating, but hopefully I'll be able to write two chapters at the same time! Thank you I think ClarisseLaRue and Fae Luna for reviewing! And, of course, thank you also all you lovely peoples who followed! You guys are seriously amazing!

Annabeth

By the time Percy woke up, Artemis had already explained what they were going to do. She would be leading them for approximately a week, to get them more or less on track, but if they wandered off from there, she wouldn't be able to help.

She had also explained to Annabeth in greater detail why she out of all the gods was the only one able to visit Tartarus. Something about her being the only animal able to have the force and concentration necessary. And even then, if any monsters attacked them at all, or the cat got a scratch, she would be forced to return to the mortal world. Therefore, Annabeth and Percy would have to take turns carrying around the goddess.

Not to mention the fact that Annabeth felt a little awkward just with her broken ankle, she couldn't imagine trying to actually carry a goddess in her arms. That would make things a million times worse, and Annabeth really didn't need that in her current situation.

"Uh..."

Annabeth turned so that she was facing her boyfriend. "Yes?"

"There's a cat..."

"Yeah, she's going to guide us as far as she can."

Percy frowned. "I'm more of a dog person...why couldn't a dog have come here? Of all things, why-"

"Percy." Annabeth glared at him before he could insult Artemis and get the only help they had disappeared.

The cat, on the other hand, appeared to be smiling, even though that was impossible. "Do not make me dislike you even more than I already do, boy."

Percy looked like he was going to pass out again. "Whoa. We have a talking cat. Annabeth..." He glanced at her for a second. "You're not telling me something. Who is this? Wait-oh gods. Is that-?"

He stared at the cat for a second. "Artemis?"

"You are going to have to be more respectful than that, Percy Jackson, if you want my help-"

She suddenly shimmered, disappeared entirely for a second before reappearing. "We must get going. And be more respectful."

She looked up at Annabeth expectantly. "Will you?"

Annabeth sighed inwardly and nodded, scooping up the feline in what she thought was the proper war to hold a cat.

Artemis was, surprisingly enough, very light, and Annabeth almost didn't notice her, except for the fact that she couldn't use her arms.

After what Annabeth was guessing was a few hours had passed, she carefully handed Artemis over to Percy, scolding him whenever Artemis blinked in and out of sight.

Finally they sat down to rest. Blackness still surrounded them, and where they were now reeked of...moldy flour, Annabeth decided in her head. She didn't think it was possible for flour to get moldy, but if it could, this was what it would smell like.

Percy wrinkled his nose, making Annabeth laugh. "It's not that bad," she said, "at least not really. Besides, it could be worse. Would you like to be fighting Kronos again?"

Percy nodded. "True. Still, it doesn't have to smell like gym lockers down here."

"Gym lockers? I thought it smelled more like moldy flour."

"Can flour even get moldy? I didn't think that it was possible, but-"

"Percy, it isn't. At least I don't think so. I'll have to check once we get out."

He didn't respond, but Annabeth immediately knew that she shouldn't have said that. She knew that he was thinking: _If we get out._

They couldn't afford to think like that. They would get out, no matter what they had to do, and save the world. Besides, even if they did die...well, they'd probably get to go to Elysium. She didn't know, and she didn't want to find out.

_You will succeed,_ a familiar voice told her in her head. It was Artemis the Cat, off course.

Annabeth sighed. "And if we don't?"

Percy looked at her strangely. "Uh, Annabeth?"

She nodded her head and curled up in a ball, indicating that she was tired.

_Then the world will fall and you shall cease to exist. But it will not come to that._

This time Annabeth responded in her head, as to not let Percy hear her talking a one-sided conversation and otherwise think that she had lost her mind. That would be concerning.

_We might not. But if we do fail..._

_We won't. I'll make sure of it._

Annabeth frowned. She sensed the goddess retreating from her thoughts, so she was free to think whatever she wanted.

If Artemis could disappear from the slightest bump or drop when they were walking, she had no idea how she would protect Percy and herself from the monsters in this pit. Speaking of monsters, they hadn't been attacked ever since they had found Artemis. Maybe she had put a protective shield around them, or...?

Annabeth decided to stop thinking and just fall asleep, which of course brought more dreams.

In her vision, she was standing on the top of a cliff, the bottom of it disappearing into the clouds that were beneath her. She tried to take a step back, but it felt like her feet were glued in their place. She looked down and saw that they were in mud past her ankles.

Gaea was at work again.

_I am always at work, dear._

Annabeth jumped as the voice of the earth goddess came into her head.

"What do you want, Gaea? Why have you taken me here?"

_So that you can see your friends' failure, of course. You'll finally realize that your quest is hopeless and give up all hope. Now, watch._

Annabeth screamed as Gaea gave up grip on her, sending her tumbling down the cliff, trying to grab on to anything possible before her vision turned black.

When she was able to see again, she saw Piper and Leo arguing with Jason trying to work out whatever was the matter between them. Suddenly, a giant monster silently rose up behind them, and lashed out, striking Jason before he had the chance to warn Piper and Leo.

He crumpled to the ground as Piper and Leo kept arguing. Suddenly, Piper whipped out Katoptris and turned towards the monster, but she was too late. The beast bit her shoulder, and it immediately turned green.

She fell on the ground, her eyes staring blankly at the sky. Leo stared in shock at his two friends who were lying on the ground, dead.

"NO!" Annabeth shouted, closing her eyes. "This isn't real. We're going to defeat you, Gaea. Let me go back!"

_Have you forgotten the prophecy already, daughter of Athena? An oath to keep with a final breath..._

"I won't listen to you. This isn't real. If you want to be helpful send me back to Tartarus."

_If you insist. Don't think I've forgotten about you and the spawn of Poseidon either, though. I'm watching you._

Annabeth shivered as the meaning of those words settled in, and she woke up, still shivering.

She looked around. Percy was still asleep, as well as Artemis, who was curled into a ball.

Annabeth then felt a presence; she took out her knife and held it out in front of her. "Show yourself! Or are you too cowardly to come into the light?" She taunted it, slowly standing up.

Slowly but surely, it came into the light. When Annabeth saw it, she almost collapsed. Why...why was _he _here? He of anybody should deserve Elysium.

Standing before her was the boy whom she had once loved, and grown to hate. In front of her was Luke Castellan.

Duh duh duh! Well, Luke's here! (kind of...) I apologize greatly for not updating recently, but things have been REALLY hectic around my house, so I...yeah. I WILL TRY TO UPDATE SOON, I PROMISE. Please not that I said TRY. :P


	5. Chapter 5

Thank you so much for reviewing! Trust me, I'm trying to update – but I'm still trying to finish MOA...it gets really frustrating sometimes, but hopefully starting today I'll update more often.

Hazel

Hazel stared at the note in her hands, blinking back tears. A couple days ago he was hardly able to stand...now he was going to try and stop two of the most powerful civilizations in the world from fighting. Of course, if anyone could do it, he could, as the Romans and Greeks would trust him.

But she didn't want to lose him again. If he died...No – she wasn't going to think like that. Nico could do it. If it came to it, he could call up an army of the undead. At least he could...She wasn't sure if he was still able to or not.

"Hazel! Hazel, we need you!" Piper voice floated through the door that led into Nico's room, and taking Hazel a few moments to realize that Piper was looking for her. She slowly stood up and walked out the door. Piper was standing in front of her, hand outstretched towards the doorknob, about to check if Hazel was inside.

"Hazel? Are you alright?" Piper's voice held sympathy, and Hazel wondered if she really looked that devastated.

She tried to hold it in, but she somehow couldn't. Too many things had gone wrong. Here she was, a 13 year old on an impossible quest with a bunch of 17-year-olds. She was supposed to be dead, one of her closest friends was falling through the worst part of the Underworld, and her brother was standing in the middle of a war.

Piper looked a bit hesitant, but she stepped forwards and hugged Hazel, softly saying "it's okay, Hazel. We'll be fine. It's alright" as well as other soothing things.

After a while, Piper led Hazel to her own room – surprisingly enough, it wasn't completely pink like Hazel had originally thought. It had a dark blue ceiling, but light green walls with jagged brown stripes, which Hazel suspected reminded Piper of a forest.

It had a calming effect on her, and Hazel soon felt the sadness leave her as Piper used charmspeak. She closed her eyes and took a breath. She felt a lot better now, so she turned to Piper.

"I-I'm fine now."

Piper smiled at her. "Is it about Nico? Or Percy and Annabeth?"

Hazel hiccupped. "Both. Nico w-went back to Camp Half-Blood t-to stop the w-war."

"What? He went back there?" Piper's tone was doubtful.

Hazel just nodded and handed Piper the note. She read it quickly, and gave it back to Hazel. "I'll tell everyone else. If you want to go back to your room and lay down you can. We'll need all the energy we can get."

Hazel smiled gratefully and nodded. "I will. Thanks, Piper."

Piper smiled back. "No problem. Anyway, that's what we're all here for. To help each other."

She turned around and walked away, and Hazel walked back to her room.

It was comforting to be in a familiar room, and Hazel went into her bathroom and took a shower, which felt nice after having so many problems.

Just as she was walking out and pulling her hair into a ponytail, there was a knock on her door.

"Hello?" she asked, opening it. Leo stood there, fiddling with something that he shoved into his tool belt as soon as he saw her.

"Hi...can I come in?"

She nodded, opening the door farther. "Sure. It's not like I have anything private anyway..."

He came in and went over and sat on her bed. "How come your bed is softer than mine?"

Hazel smiled, and shrugged. "You're the one who made it all. I wouldn't know. So, why'd you come?"

He chewed on his lip for a moment before saying, "Hazel, I still think it's my fault. If I hadn't opened that fortune cookie..."

"Then Frank and I would've died. You saved us, Leo, and Percy and Annabeth are still alive. You have nothing to be concerned about. Anyway, if you hadn't used it, there would be three of us dead and right now Percy and Annabeth would be in Tartarus. Leo, you have to stop blaming yourself. After Sammy..." she momentarily choked up, thinking of her friend. "After Sammy lived his whole life thinking like that, I couldn't stand it if..." Her eyes began filling up with tears again.

"I'm sorry Hazel," Leo said quickly, but then added, "but still, no matter what people say, I won't feel better until Percy and Annabeth are out here, safe."

She nodded, and then asked Leo, "Why did you come see me out of all of us?"

He shrugged, and then pulled some screws out of his tool belt. "Frank and I aren't the best friends...it would be weird asking Jason and Piper, well...Piper would just use charmspeak which I guess would make me feel better, but not for long. Anyway, they haven't really heard me talking about stuff like this...I don't know if they'd understand."

She nodded, getting what he was trying to say.

"I get it. Just don't...you can't blame yourself."

He looked down, and muttered something under his breath that Hazel couldn't understand.

"What?" she asked, frowning.

"I'll try."

She then switched from feeling sympathetic to frustrated. How in Pluto's name was she supposed to convince him that the Percy/Annabeth situation was not his fault?

She ended up sighing, and to her relief Leo half-smiled and said bye.

After he left, she lay on her bed for a while, thinking. After a few hours of thinking, (and maybe crying a bit), she fell asleep and had the first dream in a long time.

In her dream, she was standing between Nico and Reyna...what was Reyna doing with Nico? And why were there Greeks in the same room? Why weren't they fighting? And why was everyone paying attention to the redhead in the middle of the room...?

Suddenly she realized that whatever the redhead was saying was probably important.

"...Good. Because I have a prophecy for you." She stated. Then she put her hands to her head and fell to the ground, moaning.


End file.
